Picture Credit: Twitter
Both India and New Zealand will be playing only their 2nd match in T20 World Cup 2021 but this game is already being considered as a virtual quarterfinal by cricket fans as Pakistan have almost secured their spot for T20 WC 2021 semis. Thus, winner of this contest is expected to join Pakistan in the semis from Group 2. Both teams started their T20 WC campaign by losing their 1st game to Pakistan but New Zealand fought very well unlike India. As far as Playing XI is concerned, India might be tempted to include in-form Shardul Thakur ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Mohammed Shami.
Let us have a look at some of the numbers between India vs New Zealand before start of the game:
2003 - Last time India defeated New Zealand in an ICC event was wayback in 2003 WC. Post that, India have lost to Kiwi side in 2007 T20 WC, 2016 T20 WC, 2019 WC, 2020 World Test Championship series and 2021 World Test Championship Finals.
44 - Martin Guptill needs 44 more runs to become 2nd batsman to complete 3000 runs in T20Is after Virat Kohli.
17 - Ish Sodhi has taken most wickets against India in T20I history. He can be the key bowler for New Zealand in the contest against India. Mitchell Santner has 3rd most wickets (12) against India in T20Is.
Most wickets vs India in T20Is:
Ish Sodhi - 17
Dushmantha Chameera - 14
Mitchell Santner -12
3 - Trent Boult needs 3 more wickets to complete 50 wickets in T20Is.
4 - Rohit Sharma has joint-most fifty plus (4) scores against New Zealand in T20Is.
Most fifty-plus scores vs NZ in T20Is:
Rohit Sharma - 4
Dawid Malan - 4
Tilakaratne Dilshan / Mohd. Hafeez / Chris Gayle - 3
10 - Tim Southee has dismissed both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma 10 times in international cricket.
Batsman to be dismissed by Tim Southee most times in international cricket:
Virat Kohli - 10 times
Rohit Sharma - 10 times
Dimuth Karunaratne - 10 times
2 - Martin Guptill in the last two T20I innings against Bumrah has got out twice without scoring a run.
Guptill vs Bumrah in last two Ind vs NZ T20I matches:
Inns : 2
Runs : 0
Balls : 6
Outs : 2